Blessed Sequel to 'Half Sorry'
by TheLittleCat
Summary: It seems as though you guys have subscribed to the gobigorgohome approach. GSR


TITLE: Blessed (Sequel to Half Sorry)

AUTHOR: dthelittlecat

PAIRING: GSR

RATING: K+

I do not own CSI. No kidding. You may want to read "Half Sorry" first or you may be confused. Thank you to the nice people who reviewed, and who offered to help a gal out on LJ. I really wanted to avoid fluff, but the endingis a bit of amarshmallow peep. Hope you like it anyway (or because of). So without further ado...

Her heart was in her throat. That was a medical problem, wasn't it? Shouldn't they fix that before she left the hospital? Sara looked down at her hands. They looked thinner. How do hands look thinner? They were bruised, the IV, that was to be expected. But thinner? Her jeans were loose too. Too thin. She wondered what would happen now. Hence her heart wandering throughout her torso.

Grissom had returned three nights ago, her knight in tarnished, wrinkly, jet-lagged armour. He had gone underground since then. So to speak. Catherine remained the only other person who knew of his return. His revelations at her bedside three night's previous notwithstanding, the man had a bit to make up for. Like running to the other side of the world, for example.

_Focus, Sara_, she scolded herself. _Don't be bitter this early on. Save that for later, for when you're telling yourself I told you so._

She had to know that this would be different.

She had to get out of this room.

A loud, booming Texas drawl came from the door, causing her to jump. "WHAT IS UP, BUTTERCUP!"

Nick came bursting through the door, followed closely by Warrick, Greg, and what Sara was sure was the largest balloon bouquet in the free world. While Greg wrestled the balloons through the doorway, Warrick held up a huge greeting card with "Happy-Going-Home-Day-Sara!" on the front. It was, sparkly, it was pink, and it was the size of a foosball table.

"Everyone in the lab signed it girl. With a sharpie. They miss you. You ready to blow this joint?"

"Hell, yes. I feel like I've been here for four weeks instead of four days."

Nick grabbed her bag. "Let's get you out of here. Your chariot awaits. And by chariot, I mean LasVegas Police Department issued SUV."

Greg was less enthusiastic. "GUYS. I just got the damn balloons through the door."

Greg had similar problems upon their arrival at Sara's apartment, eventually maneuvering the balloons into her living room, where they floated to the ceiling. Sara was tense. Not that she wasn't glad to be home, but because Nick and Warrick had suddenly turned into sitcom mothers.

"Can we get you anything?"

"Catherine bought you groceries, are you hungry?"

"I can make you a salad."

"Or soup if you want something warm?"

Sara put her hands up, signaling defeat. "Guys, this is a little too twilight-zoney for me right now. Not that I don't appreciate it, it's just……"

Warrick nodded in agreement. "No problem. We got it."

"Need some time to kick back."

"Get accustomed to being home."

"You guys really need to stop doing that." Sara was laughing openly now. "Really. I'll be fine. I have a week off, and then I'll be back."

Greg piped up. "If you need anything, you know to call us, right?"

"Yes. I imagine all three of you will be here faster than I can say stooges."

Nick winked. "That's our cue. Good to see you in one piece Sar."

Sara smiled as they made their way out her door. Who needed biological brothers anyway?

She batted the balloons out of her way as she made her way to the kitchen, opening her fridge. Wow. She plucked the yellow sticky note off the carton of juice:

_Sara,_

_Wasn't sure what you needed, so got a little of everything that wasn't once moving. Feel better, I'll swing by after shift._

_Love ya, Catherine_

Sara felt tears spring to her eyes. A month ago they weren't even speaking. Now she was taking bullets for Catherine and Catherine was buying her groceries, telling her that she was loved. _That seems like a fair trade._

Sara began to laugh to herself, tears springing to her eyes, because for the first time in her life, she actually felt blessed. She was wiping the moisture from her eyes when she heard a knock at her door. It was so soft she thought it was an illusion at first. She walked to the door, opened it, and walked straight into a small field of lilies.

The lilies spoke, and they sounded a lot like Grissom. "Happy homecoming."

She didn't imagine that he would still have the power to make her blush, but her cheeks pinkened all the same. "Thank you. It seems as though you guys have subscribed to the go-big-or-go-home approach."

Grissom stepped through her door, noticing the large pile of balloons covering the ceiling. "I don't want to alarm you, but it looks as if a carnival exploded in your living room. The clowns are gonna want those back, and that's one mafia you don't want a piece of."

"Three clowns, actually."

"I know. I waited until they were gone. I was around the corner in my car."

Sara cradled the lilies in her arms. They stared at each other for a few moments. Sara broke the silence. "The fewer people who know you're back, the easier it'll be to leave again, huh."

Grissom watched her take a vase out of the cupboard and fill it with water, placing the flowers on her breakfast bar.

"Sara….."

"It's okay. I just…..I'm processing as fast as I can. I don't want you to feel like I expect you to stay."

"You should expect me to stay."

"I can't. I can't expect anything of you."

"What do you want then?"

"You know the answer to that Griss, you always have. It seemed not to matter a whole lot."

"I was wrong."

Sara looked at him. He was as serious as she had ever seen him.

"Sara. I was wrong. I can't think that you'll forgive me, I can't think that this is going to end the way I want it to, all I can think is that you might get that I am here now and will stay forever with one word from you."

"I think I need to sit. Don't take that as the one word…nevermind. Over-talking. Need to sit."

Sara made her way to the couch. Grissom slowly approached, perching beside her. He looked at her arm, held up by a sling. The stitches in her shoulder from the removal of a bullet that could have killed her. He wanted to throw up. She leaned back, gingerly placing her back among the cushions.

"Does it hurt?"

She met his gaze. "Yeah."

"Do you need your painkillers?"

Laughing again, bitter this time. "I wasn't talking about the arm, Gil."

He sat up straighter. "Sara. I'm not going back unless you tell me to. Explicitly. As long as I think that one day we can be friends again, not anything else, I know it's too late for that…..I just need you to recognize that I won't go unless you tell me to. I am in love with you. I am. And no matter where I go, it's not going to change the fact that I am yours."

"I lied."

He looked at her. Her eyes were closed, a smile on her lips.

"I'm a liar. I lied when I said you'd be too late. I lied."

His heart sped up, but he forced his brain to slow. "I need you to tell me what to do."

She sat up so suddenly he had to lean back to avoid her. "Kiss me."

His heart stopped. "I can't"

"Why not?"

"Because I will never stop. If I kiss you, I can never stop, ever. If I kiss you, you are accepting the fact that I will ask you to be my wife, that I will ask you to mother my children, till death do us part and I need to know that you can accept that because I can never stop, ever."

Sara fell back against the back of the couch. Her head hurt.

"Gil…..I don't know if I can make that call right now. How…..how can you expect me to deal with this. Really? We seem to hate each other, you go to Europe, we're never gonna see each other again but that's okay because we seem to hate one another, I get shot, you come back and you're asking…." She had to stop to breathe. She had to get off this couch. This situation clearly required some arm-flailing room. "What on earth is WRONG WITH YOU?"

Grissom had his head bowed, she couldn't see his eyes. "Many, many things, Sara."

He got up, and moved to the door. He looked…defeated.

"Feel better Sara. Please feel like you can call me if you need to."

He had his hand on the doorknob before he heard her voice.

"Gil." He turned. Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "Would you like to have dinner with me? See what happens?"

Grissom blinked. He blinked, and there were tears, and he very slowly walked to her, sank to his knees, wrapped his arms around her waist, and cried into her belly.

He couldn't believe that he had gotten his miracle, even if it was just a clean slate.


End file.
